The Serious Risks of Untreated Hearing Loss: Why Hearing Aids Matter

Hearing aids have become more advanced, better functioning and smaller. A hearing aid helps a person hear better in both quiet and noisy situations. The National Institute of Deafness and Other Communicative Diseases (NIDCD) notes that only one out of five people who could benefit from a hearing aid uses one, and puts herself and others in danger.

Significance

• A hearing aid helps a person hear, speak and communicate better. A loss of hearing is a handicap, and it can be a dangerous condition if not addressed, corrected or treated.

Considerations

• Hearing helps a person keep out of harm's way. Often sounds of impending danger are heard before they are seen allowing a person time to react. Hearing loss impedes many audible warnings.

Effects

• Serious hearing loss can inhibit or prevent a person from hearing a fire alarm. It can also cause a person to remain in the way of an oncoming car or a falling item. Hearing loss may prevent a person from hearing a warning cry.

Dangers

• The cry of an infant, a call for help from a spouse or a neighbor, the distant sound of a storm can all be silenced by hearing loss. Hearing sounds warn of potential dangers while a person sleeps and is awake.

Warning

• There are dangers everywhere and everyday and those with a hearing loss are at risk. Simply crossing the street, frying an egg, working, or missing an important phone call can be hazardous for the hearing impaired.

Prevention/Solution

• When hearing loss is not corrected, it can put others at risk as well as the hearing challenged. If a person suspects a hearing loss, a visit to the doctor is warranted.